I’d just like to share one of my Tumblr-related New Year’s resolutions with you and I hope other people will join me in having this resolution for 2019.
My resolution is to better support content creators in this fandom.
I already do that as much as possible and I think (hope?) I do a pretty good job most of the time, but I want to continue that next year and get even better at it. Supporting content creators means supporting fic writers, fan artists, gifmakers, manip makers, and all types of edit makers. And that support includes:
REBLOG, REBLOG, REBLOG! Liking posts is great, but it doesn’t spread peoples’ content or tell the person what you really think about it. This fandom is particularly bad at reblogging fic posts and fan art posts, and that means that the only real audience that gets to see that content is the OP’s followers, which is sometimes not that many people. And this happens with a lot of gifs and edits too, so if you see content that you like, please reblog it and help other people see it too.
WHEN YOU REBLOG, LEAVE NICE TAGS! Most content creators I follow or talk to love reading the tags on their content to see what people think of what they made. If you reblog content that you like, don’t hesitate to compliment it in the tags because there’s a really good chance the creator will see it and it will help make their day.
GIVE KUDOS! If you’re reading a fic and you’ve enjoyed it, don’t forget to give kudos! You can give kudos both as an AO3 user and as a guest if you don’t have an account. When I’ve enjoyed a fic, I’ll usually give two kudos - one when I’m signed in, and one when I’m signed out. The number of hits on fics in this fandom versus the number of kudos is honestly atrocious, so please remember to let writers know you enjoyed their fic with the super quick and easy click of a button.
LEAVE COMMENTS! This is another one for the amazing fic writers in this fandom. If you’ve read a fic and you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a comment. If you have time, leave a comment letting the author know what your favorite parts of the fic were! If you have less time, just a comment saying you loved this fic is perfect. Fic writers appreciate every comment, long and short, because it can be really difficult to put writing out in the world and not receive much feedback on it. So please take the time to leave comments on your favorite works. And no, this doesn’t just mean comments on WIPs saying “update!”
SEND AN ASK OR MESSAGE! If there’s gifmaker, editor, fan artist, writer, or other content creator whose work you love, it never hurts to take the time to send them an ask (on anon or off) or message them letting them know how much you enjoy what they’ve made. Just a few words can honestly make a creator so happy, so keep that in mind.
VENTURE OUTSIDE OF YOUR IMMEDIATE CIRCLE! This is something I think we can all work on in 2019. It’s really easy to only reblog the content created by your mutuals or people that you talk to or are friends with, and that’s totally fine and makes perfect sense. Still, I hope we can all resolve to try and venture outside of that circle to also expose ourselves to other peoples’ content in 2019. There are so many amazing creators in this fandom who may not be as popular or have as many mutuals or followers, but who still deserve appreciation and promotion.
The reality is that our fandom would really fucking suck if not for the people writing fics and making gifs, edits, manips, and art. While our fandom may not be as large or united as it once was, there are still so many content creators that are making us amazing stuff EVERY DAMN DAY. And they deserve our support because I think a lot of us can agree that we wouldn’t enjoy being here even half as much without them. So thanks to all our content creators, and I wish you all the best in 2019! I look forward to keeping this resolution. ❤️❤️
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